Monopulse

Airspace Defense (formerly Airspace Systems), founded in San Francisco in 2015 by Jaz Banga, Noah Moore and Earl Stirling, is a counter-UAS security company. Its Airspace Spatial platform combines Remote ID, electronic sensing, RADAR and AI-powered analytics to detect, identify and mitigate unauthorized drones for public safety agencies, national defense and major enterprise sites such as airports, ports and stadiums.

Anduril is a defense technology company founded in 2017 in Costa Mesa, California, reporting approximately $500 million in revenue last year.

Series D+ · $11B · 2026-05 · Valuation $61B

Shield AI, founded in 2015 in San Diego, California, develops drones and AI software for military applications, making it the second-highest-valued defense tech startup in the United States.

Series D+ · $3.0B · 2026-03 · Valuation $13B

Weifen Zhifei, founded in 2024 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China, is a developer of intelligent drones and flying robots focused on embodied intelligence and swarm intelligence R&D.

Series A · $56M · 2026-09

Founded in January 2022 by Cai Wenkuan — who entered Tsinghua University's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at 16 and spent over a decade at Chinese state aviation OEMs before starting the company — the firm develops hybrid tilt-rotor eVTOL aircraft, a configuration in which it is described as an early mover in China. Its core engineering team is reported to include veterans of the C919, Y-12F, Bombardier C Series and Z-9 programs. Originally registered in Suzhou, Jiangsu, the entity was re-registered in Zhejiang, and in June 2026 signed to base its integrated headquarters in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Series A · $111M · 2026-09

Shenzhen Qianniao Innovation Technology develops, manufactures and sells amphibious air-water drones (cross-medium unmanned vehicles) that switch between flight, surface and underwater operation, targeting marine industry, water environment monitoring, inspection, security, emergency response and defense, with consumer products in development.

Angel · 2026-09

Founded in 2023 in Kyiv, Buntar Aerospace builds tactical VTOL reconnaissance drones (Buntar-3) and the Buntar Copilot mission software, with AI-based visual navigation for GPS-denied, EW-contested environments; its systems are used by Ukrainian front-line units.

Undisclosed · $30M · 2026-10

Quantum Systems, founded in Germany in 2015, develops AI-powered drones for defense and commercial use, covering aerial intelligence and geospatial data collection.

Series D+ · $1.6B · 2026-07 · Valuation $8.0B

InLeap Photonics is a German deep-tech company spun out of Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., developing ultra-fast, high-precision laser beam steering systems (INLEAP FASTLIGHT) that it says are around 2,500x faster than conventional mechanical steering. The technology is dual-use: industrially it accelerates high-end manufacturing processes such as battery electrode and photovoltaic module production, while its FASTLIGHT SHIELD product is a laser-based counter-drone system protecting airports, energy facilities and data centres.

Seed · 2026-09

Terra Industries, founded in 2025 in Abuja, Nigeria, provides security infrastructure and autonomous systems—including drones—to governments and organizations for monitoring and responding to security threats.

Seed · $52M · 2026-08

Dominion Dynamics is a defense technology company that develops command-and-control software (AuraNet) and autonomous drones (Scout) designed for extreme and defense environments such as the Arctic.

Series A · $115M · 2026-06

Origin, founded in 2022 in Latvia, develops autonomous systems for military and defense applications, such as drones, providing cost-effective hardware and software to enhance the capabilities of European and NATO forces.

Series A · $51M · 2026-03